[mumto2]

I would so appreciate anyone's help! My hubby is going to be working on HK Island so figure we should probably live there as well. Am I going to be able to find a nice 3 bedroom apartment for between HK$30-40K?

Any suggestions for apartments would be great, as would areas on the island.

TIA

[Alby]

Yes but your lifestyle will pretty much dictate where.

Ok ... I cut and pasted this from another thread and was originally posted by SKYHOOK. The reason is that these are some questions to help prioritize and further understand you family's needs.

• Are you commute phobic, or does anything longer than 30 minutes'do your head in ?
• Do you cook at home, or do you plan to eat out exclusively.
• Do you plan to have a maid/Amah/Domestic Helper ?
• Do you want to live in a high or low density area ?
• Do you want to live in a green/sea view location that won't be within 2 minutes walk to do shopping ? It might take you 10 minutes to taxi, drive or bus it to do your grocery shopping. Rule of thumb, further from shopping malls = no crowds around your place of residence.
• Do you want to be within easy access to other families in the same situation as you ?
• Are you looking for an apartment with a little private access to outside area's ie: spacious balcony, roof top or ground floor private garden for entertaining friends at home etc?
• Having 2 kids, are you likely to want an MPV ( Car ) to aid shopping and enhance instant commute convenience ?
• Are you looking for a quiet peaceful neighbourhood, or do you want to be immersed into the Hong Kong noisy hustle and bustle ambiance ?

Answer a few of these questions and it will make it pretty easy to narrow things down for you.

[mumto2]

Are you commute phobic, or does anything longer than 30 minutes'do your head in ?
Mmm, I'm guessing hubby wouldn't want to do more than a 20-30 minute commute which will be to Wan Chai.

Do you cook at home, or do you plan to eat out exclusively.

I definitely do alot of cooking at home and we will want to go out for lunches/dinners on days off.

Do you plan to have a maid/Amah/Domestic Helper ?

I would like someone part-time.

Do you want to live in a high or low density area ?
Doesn't really matter. What matters more is being able to walk with young kids and a pram without tackling too many hills to get to a park/playground and maybe a local shop or two.

Do you want to live in a green/sea view location that won't be within 2 minutes walk to do shopping ? It might take you 10 minutes to taxi, drive or bus it to do your grocery shopping. Rule of thumb, further from shopping malls = no crowds around your place of residence.

Doesn't matter but would like to be not too far away from parks or the beach. 20 minutes from the beach would be great.

Do you want to be within easy access to other families in the same situation as you ?

Would be nice if there were other families with young children around but not imperative.

Are you looking for an apartment with a little private access to outside area's ie: spacious balcony, roof top or ground floor private garden for entertaining friends at home etc?

Would like a balcony, pool, carpark and playgroup if its possible ;-)

Having 2 kids, are you likely to want an MPV ( Car ) to aid shopping and enhance instant commute convenience ?

Quite possibly will want to have a car.

Are you looking for a quiet peaceful neighbourhood, or do you want to be immersed into the Hong Kong noisy hustle and bustle ambiance ?

Don't really want it to be too noisy and hustly...

Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing replies.

[Skyhook]

Hmmm, you don't want much, do you lol.

Now, is what you want, within your housing allowance? Heres hoping that your housing budget is between 30 and 100K a month, you should be able to get everything you want, based on your answers.

• Kowloon Tong ( Kowloon side ) High Budget required
• Yau Yat Tsuen closest to Festival Walk mall and the
  MTR. ( Kowloon Side ) High budget required
• Whampoa Gardens ( Laguna Verde ) My top pick for value for money, if your housing allowance is a little on the lean side. Very convenient, providing you're on the harbour side, road noise wont be audible etc. Very close to Tsim Sha Tsui also, and well within your work commute time frame.
  Medium budget
  
• Beacon Hill ( Kowloon Side ) Medium to High Budget
• Pok Fu Lam ( Bisney Road ) Medium to high budget
• Happy Valley Medium to high budget
• Shouson Hill (South Side of the Island ) High budget
• Stanley ( South Side of the Island ) High Budget
• Repulse Bay ( South Side of the Island) High Budget
• Braemar Hill ( Very quiet streets ) if you can stretch it financially, Braemar Hill very good, but High Budget

Your range of family QUIET area's is extremely limited based on your commute time, considering your hubby works in probably one of the noisiest area's on the planet, so its logical if you live really close to it, you're going to experience the same noise at home. Right ?

Also, Balconeys are not common inner city, you're going to need to venture to the area's I mentioned above, if a balconey is required.


Good luck with that, hope your kids enjoy their time while living in Hong Kong.

[mumto2]

Thanks Skyhook for your reply

Yeah our budget is 30-40K but I am willing to sacrifice the "brand new" for getting everything else I want...

Will have a look at the areas you mention when we arrive...

Many thanks.

Any other suggestions would be welcome too! Cheers